After All
by lewdness
Summary: The older man’s hands were rough, just like his, from all of the labor and the years of wielding a weapon. The thought was oddly comforting. [LeonRiku] [Oneshot] [Edited as of 1.11.06, please enjoy!]


Disclaimer: So not mine.

The story behind this is that a few months ago, archy the cockroach and I were doing an RP together- a RikuLeon one, which was supposed to be humor but I kind of um…fail at humor. Anyway! This has been sitting around on my computer for a while now and I finally figured I'd throw it up. Thanks to my beta for being awesome and getting it done so fast. 3

So, some things have changed as of 1.11.07. If you want to read the part that has the most to do with the RP that should eventually be posted, then read from the start to the "---" part. Anything past that, is what makes this oneshot a little more…full, as some people have pointed out. Have any questions, go ahead and ask!

-

Leon sighed and dragged a hand through his sweat dampened hair, reaching around a pile of rubble to grab his nearly empty bottle of water. Tilting his head back, he made a face at the small mouthful he got from it –not _nearly_ enough- and resolved to wander over to where Aerith was making lunch to get more, eventually.

A yell of laughter made his head jerk to the right, the conditioned response coming from what seemed like decades of fighting Heartless at all hours of the day and night. Instead of an attack from the shadows, Sora was scrambling to get away from a water gun wielding Yuffie, teamed with a hose-wielding Kairi, both of whom were attacking him at the same time. Unable to contain the small smile at the wide grins of the teens, Leon leaned back on the worn down wall, watching as Sora jumped up and hid behind a wall and stuck his tongue out at the two girls who lacked the ability to get up so high.

"Crazy, aren't they?"

Tilting his head to the side, Leon regarded the newcomer carefully, still unsure how to handle the teen even after the few times they had met. "Kairi seems to be the mildest of them all," he finally answered, raising an eyebrow at the bottle of water offered to him.

"You were out." Riku waved the bottle again, waiting for Leon to take it. "Aerith sent me on water duty because Cid said he wasn't abandoning his Gummi ship when someone else could be 'errand boy'." A small smirk curled Riku's lips as he cracked open the lid of his water, taking a mouthful and then a gulp with a pleased sigh at the end. "And Kairi is not the mildest; she just likes to let us think she is. She's the one who hides her insanity the best out of all of us."

Leon snorted quietly, uncapping his water and draining almost half of it in the first drink. "I suppose she fits in well here, then," he said in one of his rare moments of good humor, glancing at the shovel for a moment before deciding it couldn't hurt any to get away from working for a little while. "Did Aerith say when lunch would be?"

The teen pushed away from the wall, moving to the opposite side and hopping up on one of the piles of rubble, holding his water bottle between his knees while he used his hands to push some of the sharper rocks away. "She smacked me with her spatula, if that counts for anything." Riku's gaze switched from the brunet man back to where Sora was still perched up above the two girls, his spiky hair weighed down by the water that dripped down onto them. There was a shout of laughter as he began dropping small stones down on them, sticking his tongue out when they moved away to avoid them. "Pretty soon, though, I think. She was just finishing the sandwiches when she kicked me out for the water."

Nodding, Leon tossed his water bottle to the silver-haired teen, not surprised when it was caught. There was still shoveling to do if they wanted to get the west passage cleared and he was tired of feeling awkward by just standing there. Pushing his hair back once more, he scowled at the dampness of it- getting sweaty from manual labor seemed ridiculous when he had been fighting battles for his life that didn't require this kind of effort.

The crunch of shoes on the ground followed by a tap on his shoulder made Leon turn around once more. "Here," Riku said, holding out a small black band. "To tie back your hair- it sucks having long hair sometimes, doesn't it?"

Nodding, the older man hesitantly took the offered hair-band, noticing that Riku had his hair tied up as well, the silver tips just barely brushing his shoulders. It took only a second for him after a little fumbling to do the same, though in a lower ponytail. "Thanks." He reached for the shovel again, hearing Riku take one of the other ones and begin working a few feet away. "How long are the three of you staying this time?"

Riku pushed the shovel under a load of rocks and blue-gray stones, lifting it with hardly any effort- the product of years of wielding Keyblades and fighting Heartless along the side. "I'm not sure, yet. Sora really enjoys it here and Kairi likes getting to see Yuffie and Aerith more, so it depends on them." The teen moved another shovelful of dirt. "I like helping out here, too, so it all works out."

The unsaid, '_because I feel guilty_,' hung in the air as both men worked, dust and dirt rising in small puffs as small piles of rubble gradually grew larger. "Every time we've been here, you're always working," Riku began, kicking a few stones out of his way as he worked. "Isn't there-"

The brunet shook his head, moving to lean on his shovel. Riku wouldn't- _couldn't_ understand this; the overwhelming responsibility that Leon had to try and protect these people where he had failed before. He owed them that at the very least; the cleanup was one of the easiest processes, though it was proving to be the most time-consuming. "This needs to be done first. Radiant Garden needs to be restored and there will be time for everything else after that," Leon said with a surprising amount of vehemence.

Riku raised an eyebrow but nodded a second later; of all people, he understood the best, probably, the feeling of responsibility that came with being tied to a disaster. Though, he realized, from the distant look in Leon's eyes, it didn't look like the brunet really believed that anyone else could understand or feel the same responsibility.

"When… when Destiny Islands came back- or at least, when Sora and I did, the Islands were just the same as when we had left. The only thing we had to worry about was the fact that we had to try and adjust to not having to fight." Riku shook his head, trying to get his bangs out of his eyes. What was it that made him want to explain himself; Sora and Kairi were his best friends and honestly, while he had been able to get along with everyone back on the islands and even here, he never felt the need to explain what had happened. "That's why we travel so much; it's harder to stay in one place when you're used to wandering."

There was a comfortable silence, filled once more by their shovels moving, the scrape of metal against broken stone, and the laughter from behind them. "It feels like it'll never be over," Leon admitted suddenly, his voice quiet and almost unsure. He didn't pause from his work. "There's always something else to be done. Something's always broken, there's been an accident." The brunet dragged a hand through his hair and wiped sweat off of his face, leaving a small streak of dirt on his cheek.

"It's better than having no hope, though," Riku said quietly and reaching out hesitantly, pulling off one of Leon's gloves and setting it beside him. After a moment of no protesting he reached out to take the other one. The older man's hands were rough, just like his, from all of the labor and the years of wielding a weapon; the thought was oddly comforting. His face felt inexplicably warm and when he met Leon's blue-gray eyes he drew in a sharp breath, both of them pausing suddenly, not quite awkward but almost. "Aerith probably…" Riku trailed off, swallowing hard. Leon took two steps forward, close enough where the teen could see his steel gray eyes clearly. "She…"

There was a wild whoop that made both of them jump, turning around only to catch a rush of ice-cold water, courtesy of two madly grinning girls, Yuffie and Kairi. The former yelped and hid behind her accomplice, squeaking out a, "Lunchisready!" A second later, the ninja was dragging Kairi away with a feeble squirt of water as if it would keep the two men away. Sora lingered in the archway with an all too smug smirk curling his lips as the two men pulled apart quickly.

Leon glanced at Riku, muttering what sounded like, "Going after the ninja." And before Riku could say anything else, Leon had practically stalked away with his boots clicking and grinding into the rubble.

"_Don't_ say it, Sora."

Sora's smile widened, though he obeyed for a moment, practically vibrating with amusement and the urge to simply bother one of his best friends- that's what being friends automatically entitled him to, after all.

The older Keyblade master frowned, glancing over only to realize too late that the older man had left behind his jacket and gloves. Leaning over, he grabbed the gloves and jammed them into one of his pockets and picked up the jacket a moment later. "Sora, I'm s--"

"You _like _him," Sora finally burst, looking all too gleeful at those three little words. An accompanying cackle came a second later at the dark glare he received for his laughter. "It's _cute._ Really obvious between both of you, but it's-" The teen yelped, jumping to the side to avoid the spray of rocks kicked at him. "Really, really, really, really –Riku, _stoppit_!— obvious! Don't act like that, 'cause you know it's--"

Riku scowled even more, though there was no real fire behind it. "Come on, it's lunch time," he called, stepping over a pile of dirt and ducking down to get out of the room they had been working in. "We'll figure everything else out then."

Sora's grin was even wider as he followed his friend out, kicking stones out of the way as he went.

---

A little later Riku wandered around the edge of town. Almost everyone was already asleep, the long day of work getting to them and making for a somewhat early bedtime. This wasn't the case for Riku; instead of feeling tired, he was simply restless, trying to avoid thinking about earlier but finding his mind drawn to it multiple times no matter how much he tried to switch to another subject. What_ was_ that back there, anyway? A momentary lapse in sanity? Maybe the heat had just gotten to him and…

Dragging a hand through his hair, he stuck his other hand in his pocket only to feel the gloves he had stuffed there earlier. Pausing, he looked down at them and bit his bottom lip as he tried to figure out what to do. He'd need the gloves back; Riku couldn't remember the last time that he had seen Leon without the gloves and he knew just how naked _he_ had felt when he'd lost his blindfold.

"I thought you would be asleep like everyone else."

Flinching, Riku turned around, met steady gray eyes and shrugged. "Wasn't tired."

Leon made an affirmative noise, making his way forward until there was only a foot between them. He looked just as good without his jacket, Riku realized, only slightly giddy. "You've got some things of mine, remember?" He reached forward without waiting for any response, but instead of grabbing his gloves he pulled Riku closer and watched the teen closely. "I assume my jacket's at your room?"

"Yeah." Riku tilted his head up a little bit, both of them inching closer and closer until their lips touched gently, then a little firmer. Leon's hand was a warm weight on his waist, sliding down and then- "Hey!"

Leon's lips twitched in a vague smile as he pulled away and slowly pulled his gloves on. "How about you take me to where my jacket is?" he asked, one eyebrow raised and it took Riku a moment to get the subtle invitation there.

Oh. _Oh. _"This way," Riku said, licking his tingling lips as they headed back to where he was staying. He could probably get used to Hollow Bastion.

-

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